BILL NUMBER: SB 525	CHAPTERED  10/10/99

	CHAPTER   1012
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE   OCTOBER 10, 1999
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR   OCTOBER 10, 1999
	PASSED THE SENATE   SEPTEMBER 8, 1999
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY   SEPTEMBER 7, 1999
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   SEPTEMBER 2, 1999
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   JULY 15, 1999
	AMENDED IN SENATE   MAY 17, 1999
	AMENDED IN SENATE   APRIL 20, 1999
	AMENDED IN SENATE   APRIL 13, 1999

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Polanco

                        FEBRUARY 19, 1999

   An act to amend Section 11166.9 of the Penal Code, relating to
child abuse.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 525, Polanco.  Child abuse:  state and local coordination.
   Existing law provides for coordination between specified state and
local entities to address fatal child abuse and neglect, and to
provide a body of information to prevent child deaths.
   This bill would recast those provisions.  The bill would add more
state and private entities to the members of the California State
Child Death Review Council, specify additional duties for the council
and the Department of Justice in connection with gathering and
tracking information regarding child deaths from abuse or neglect,
and specify additional duties for the State Department of Health
Services in connection with tracking child abuse information in
specified state data systems.  The bill would provide that the
provisions requiring the development of the tracking system would be
operative July 1, 2000, and that implementation of the tracking
system by the State Department of Health Services, and implementation
of training and other duties by the Office of Criminal Justice
Planning would be done only to the extent that funds are appropriated
for that purpose in the Budget Act. The bill would also require law
enforcement and child welfare agencies to cross-report, and county
child welfare agencies to create a record in the Child Welfare
Services/Case Management System of, all cases of child death
suspected to be child abuse or neglect related.  By imposing
additional duties on local governments, this bill would create a
state-mandated local program.
  The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state.  Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement, including the creation of a State Mandates Claims Fund
to pay the costs of mandates that do not exceed $1,000,000 statewide
and other procedures for claims whose statewide costs exceed
$1,000,000.
   This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates
determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state,
reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these
statutory provisions.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  Section 11166.9 of the Penal Code is amended to read:
   11166.9.  (a) (1) The purpose of this section shall be to
coordinate and integrate state and local efforts to address fatal
child abuse and neglect, and to create a body of information to
prevent child deaths.
   (2) It is the intent of the Legislature that the California State
Child Death Review Council, the Department of Justice, the State
Department of Social Services, the State Department of Health
Services, and state and local child death review teams shall share
data and other information necessary from the Department of Justice
Child Abuse Central Index and Supplemental Homicide File, the State
Department of Health Services Vital Statistics and the Department of
Social Services Child Welfare Services/Case Management System files
to establish accurate information on the nature and extent of child
abuse and neglect related fatalities in California as those documents
relate to child fatality cases.  Further, it is the intent of the
Legislature to ensure that records of child abuse or neglect related
fatalities are entered into the State Department of Social Services,
Child Welfare Services/Case Management System.  It is also the intent
that training and technical assistance be provided to child death
review teams and professionals in the child protection system
regarding multiagency case review.
   (b) (1) It shall be the duty of the California State Child Death
Review Council to oversee the statewide coordination and integration
of state and local efforts to address fatal child abuse and neglect
and to create a body of information to prevent child deaths.  The
Department of Justice, the State Department of Social Services, the
State Department of Health Services, the California Coroner's
Association, the County Welfare Directors Association, Prevent Child
Abuse California, the California Homicide Investigators Association,
the Office of Criminal Justice Planning, the Inter-Agency Council on
Child Abuse and Neglect/National Center on Child Fatality Review, the
California Conference of Local Health Officers, the California
Conference of Local Directors of Maternal, Child, and Adolescent
Health, the California Conference of Local Health Department Nursing
Directors, the California District Attorneys Association, and at
least three regional representatives, chosen by the other members of
the council, working collaboratively for the purposes of this
section, shall be known as the California State Child Death Review
Council.  The council shall select a chairperson or cochairpersons
from the members.
   (2) The Department of Justice is hereby authorized to carry out
the purposes of this section by coordinating council activities and
working collaboratively with the agencies and organizations in
paragraph (1), and may consult with other representatives of other
agencies and private organizations, to help accomplish the purpose of
this section.
   (c) Meetings of the agencies and organizations involved shall be
convened by a representative of the Department of Justice.  All
meetings convened between the Department of Justice and any
organizations required to carry out the purpose of this section shall
take place in this state.  There shall be a minimum of four meetings
per calendar year.
   (d) To accomplish the purpose of this section, the Department of
Justice and agencies and organizations involved shall engage in the
following activities:
   (1) Analyze and interpret state and local data on child death in
an annual report to be submitted to local child death review teams
with copies to the Governor and the Legislature, no later than July 1
each year.  Copies of the report shall also be distributed to public
officials in the state who deal with child abuse issues and to those
agencies responsible for child death investigation in each county.
The report shall contain, but not be limited to, information provided
by state agencies and the county child death review teams for the
preceding year.
   The state data shall include the Department of Justice Child Abuse
Central Index and Supplemental Homicide File, the State Department
of Health Services Vital Statistics, and the State Department of
Social Services Child Welfare Services/Case Management System.
   (2) In conjunction with the Office of Criminal Justice Planning,
coordinate statewide and local training for county death review teams
and the members of the teams, including, but not limited to,
training in the application of the interagency child death
investigation protocols and procedures established under Sections
11166.7 and 11166.8 to identify child deaths associated with abuse.
   (e) The State Department of Health Services, in collaboration with
the California State Child Death Review Council, shall design, test
and implement a statewide child abuse and neglect fatality tracking
system incorporating information collected by local child death
review teams.  The department shall:
   (1) Establish a minimum case selection criteria and review
protocols of local child death review teams.
   (2) Develop a standard child death review form with a minimum core
set of data elements to be used by local child death review teams,
and collect and analyze that data.
   (3) Establish procedural safeguards in order to maintain
appropriate confidentiality and integrity of the data.
   (4) Conduct annual reviews to reconcile data reported to the State
Department of Health Services Vital Statistics, Department of
Justice Homicide Files and Child Abuse Central Index, and the State
Department of Social Services Child Welfare Services/Case Management
System data systems, with data provided from local child death review
teams.
   (5) Provide technical assistance to local child death review teams
in implementing and maintaining the tracking system.
   (6) This subdivision shall become operative on July 1, 2000, and
shall be implemented only to the extent that funds are appropriated
for its purposes in the Budget Act.
   (f) Local child death review teams shall participate in a
statewide child abuse and neglect fatalities monitoring system by:
   (1) Meeting the minimum standard protocols set forth by the State
Department of Health Services in collaboration with the California
State Child Death Review Council.
   (2) Using the standard data form to submit information on child
abuse and neglect fatalities in a timely manner established by the
State Department of Health Services.
   (g) The California State Child Death Review Council shall monitor
the implementation of the monitoring system and incorporate the
results and findings of the system and review into an annual report.

   (h) The Department of Justice shall direct the creation,
maintenance, updating, and distribution electronically and by paper,
of a statewide child death review team directory, which shall contain
the names of the members of the agencies and private organizations
participating under this section, and the members of local child
death review teams and local liaisons to those teams.  The department
shall work in collaboration with members of the California State
Child Death Review Council to develop a directory of professional
experts, resources, and information from relevant agencies and
organizations and local child death review teams, and to facilitate
regional working relationships among teams.  The Department of
Justice shall maintain and update these directories annually.
   (i) The agencies or private organizations participating under this
section shall participate without reimbursement from the state.
Costs incurred by participants for travel or per diem shall be borne
by the participant agency or organization.  The participants shall be
responsible for collecting and compiling information to be included
in the annual report.  The Department of Justice shall be responsible
for printing and distributing the annual report using available
funds and existing resources.
   (j) The Office of Criminal Justice Planning, in coordination with
the State Department of Social Services, Department of Justice, and
the California State Child Death Review Council shall contract with
state or nationally recognized organizations in the area of child
death review to conduct statewide training and technical assistance
for local child death review teams and relevant organizations,
develop standardized definitions for fatal child abuse and neglect,
develop protocols for the investigation of fatal child abuse, and
address relevant issues such as grief and mourning, data collection,
training for medical personnel in the identification of child abuse
fatalities, domestic violence fatality review, and other related
topics and programs.  The provisions of this subdivision shall only
be implemented to the extent that the Office of Criminal Justice
Planning can absorb the costs of implementation within its current
funding, or to the extent that funds are appropriated for its
purposes in the Budget Act.
   (k) Law enforcement and child welfare agencies shall cross-report
all cases of child death suspected to be related to child abuse or
neglect whether or not the deceased child has any known surviving
siblings.
   (l) County child welfare agencies shall create a record in the
Child Welfare Services/Case Management System (CWS/CMS) on all cases
of child death suspected to be related to child abuse or neglect,
whether or not the deceased child has any known surviving siblings.
Upon notification that the death was determined not to be related to
child abuse or neglect, the child welfare agency shall enter that
information into the Child Welfare Services/Case Management System.

  SEC. 2.  Notwithstanding Section 17610 of the Government Code, if
the Commission on State Mandates determines that this act contains
costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local agencies and
school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant to Part 7
(commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of the
Government Code.  If the statewide cost of the claim for
reimbursement does not exceed one million dollars ($1,000,000),
reimbursement shall be made from the State Mandates Claims Fund.
